USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 11
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JOHN S. KIRKHAM, NEWINGTON: Farmer.
Mr. Kirkham is a native of Newington. He was born April 6, 1826, and reared on his father's farm, working hard and attending the common schools during such portions of the year as might be con- veniently spared from farm work for that pur- pose. His education was finished in the Springfield High School and Newing- ton Academy. In 1849 he went to California, be- ing one of the pioneer band of Argonauts organ- ized in Hartford by Major Horace Goodwin, C. G. Smith, Joseph Pratt, and J. S. KIRKHAM. others. He was chosen on the board of managers, and also clerk of elec- tions in El Dorado county in 1850. After a valua- ble experience in the gold regions he returned to Newington, where, since 1855, he has been justice of the peace. When the town was incorporated in 1871, he was chosen town clerk, and has remained such since, save for three years. From 1866 he has been school visitor, and is now chairman of the board. In addition to these places of trust he is treasurer of the State Board of Agriculture. He was a leader in the farmers' organization a few years ago to contest the claims of the " Granite Agricultural Works " of Lebanon, N. H., growing out of fraudulent notes. Always a staunch defender of farmers' rights and a leading spirit in the local and state Grange, he is more active in the support of agricultural interests than even the interests of the democratic party. In 1878 he represented Newington in the lower house of the general assembly, and ten years later served as state senator from the second district. Mr.
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Kirkham has been twice married; first to Miss Harriet P. Atwood, who died in 1882; his second wife being Miss Mary K. Atwood, to whom he was married in 1885. He has four children. He is a member and clerk of the Congregational church in Newington, and occupies an influential position in all local religious affairs.
HERBERT C. BALDWIN, BEACON FALLS: Farmer.
Herbert C. Baldwin was born in Oxford, in this state, Sept. 3, 1840. He was one of four sons of Lucian Baldwin, and grandson of Matthew Bald- win, of what was formerly called Salem, now Nau- gatuck. His educational accomplishments were de- rived mainly from the district school. At the age of fifteen his father died, throwing the young man upon his own re- sources. He hired out up- on a farm and for several years was occupied in working summers and at- tending school winters. H. C. BALDWIN. At the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted in Company K, Thirteenth regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Henry W. Birge. This regiment was in- cluded in the great New England division for the extreme south, under Major-General B. F. Butler, and was sent by sea to Ship Island in the Gulf, where the expedition was fitted out against New Orleans. He served in the department of the Gulf until July, 1864, participating in the Bayou Lafourche campaign, Teche, siege of Port Hudson, and Red River campaigns. He was one of those who volunteered under general order No. 49, dated before Port Hudson, La., June 15, 1863, the day after the general advance had been made, to carry the rebel works, in which the Union forces suffered defeat. The language of the order, after congratu- lating the troops upon the steady advance made up- on the enemy's works, conveyed the " commanding general's summons to the bold men of the corps, to the organization of a storming column of a thousand men, to vindicate the flag of the Union and the memory of its defenders who have fallen," and promised a just recognition of their services by a medal of honor " fit to commemorate the first grand success for the freedom of the Mississippi." This promise has never been fulfilled by the govern- ment. In 1864 that portion of the army, the 19th corps, was transferred north into Virginia, under General P. H. Sheridan, and took part in the gen- eral clearing-out of the Shenandoah Valley. Mr.
Baldwin was wounded in the battle of Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864 ; the following December his regiment was transferred with his division to Savannah, Ga., where they met Sherman's army and remained with them through the Carolinas until the final surrender. Mr. Baldwin was in active service for four years and six months. being present with his command in every bat- tle and skirmish in which the regiment took part, serving as private and through the suc- ceeding grades to that of second lieutenant, and being brevetted for gallant and meritorious ser- vices. After the war closed Mr. Baldwin bought the farm in Beacon Falls, on which he still resides. He married Josephine H. Jones of Central New York, and settled down to farming. They have five children, four sons and one daughter. He has been called to fill most of the local offices of his town, has been elected selectman seventeen years, during sixteen of which he was chairman of the board. At present he is first selectman and town agent, justice of the peace, secretary of the board of education, and representative of his town in the general court. He has previously represented the town in the house during the sessions of 1876, 1880, 1883, and 1884. He has always been a republican, and a zealous worker for the principles which that party represents. His health is greatly impaired, and he feels that he should be relieved from any further public service.
HORACE E. KELSEY, WESTBROOK : Farmer and Fisherman.
Horace E. Kelsey was born in Old Saybrook, September 17, 1862, and received a common school and academic education, graduating from the West- brook Academy. He was formerly master of a coast- ing craft, but gave up that avocation in December, 1887. Since that time he has been engaged in farm- ing and fishing pursuits. He is the chairman of the board of selectmen and has the charge of the town's business. Mr. Kelsey is a democrat politically. He is a mem- ber of the V Westbrook Grange and of the United H. E. KELSEY. Order of American Mechanics. He has a wife and three children, two sons and one daughter. His marriage occurred January 25, 1877, the bride be- ing Miss Nancy M. Burdick. Mr. Kelsey has been a resident of Westbrook since the first year of his life, and is thoroughly honored in the town where he resides.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
DOLPHIN SAMUEL FLETCHER, HARTFORD : General Manager National Life Association.
D. S. Fletcher is a native of Buffalo, N. Y., where he was born April 9, 1847, his father removing with his family to Shelburne, Vt., when the lad was nine years old. He was brought up on a farm, and by personal experi- ence became entirely fa- miliar with all the duties and pleasures of a farm- er's life. He laid the foundation of an educa- tion at the district schools, graduating at Hinesburg (Vermont) academy in 1868. Shortly thereafter he removed to Brandon in that state, and entered D. S. FLETCHER. the insurance business, receiving the appointment of special agent and adjuster for several companies. This position he retained for several years, performing its duties with success and to the satisfaction of his princi- pals, and gaining by experience a knowledge of the details of underwriting which has proved of im- mense advantage to him in the broader field in which he has since been engaged. After a long and faithful service in Vermont he resigned his con- nection with the companies alluded to, desiring to extend the scope and area of his activities, and in 1882 came to Hartford, the home and center of the insurance interest. Here, in January, 1885, he organized the National Life Association of Hart- ford, and was elected its general manager, still holding the position. Mr. Fletcher is an efficient organizer and a tireless worker. He has labored hard and persistently in bringing the peculiar and original system of the National Life before the peo- ple, and in establishing it in the public confidence. The success which has been achieved is very largely attributable to his personal exertions, and to the enthusiasm with which he inspires those who are associated with him as well as his subordinates in the company's service. Mr. Fletcher is a member of the republican party, and while in Vermont was a participant in the activities of local and state politics. Since his residence in Connecticut he has confined himself to business and eschewed active politics. He is a member of Wangunk Tribe, No. II, of the Improved Order of Red Men, of Hart- ford, but has no further connection with clubs or fraternities. Mr. Fletcher has been twice mar- ried ; first, in 1871 to Miss Mary Tagert, daughter of Hugh Tagert, M. D., of Shelburne, Vt .; who died in 1872, leaving one son ; second, in 1875 to Miss Clara L. Smith, daughter of the late Rev. Eben Smith of Hartford, by whom he has two children.
HON. HENRY BILL, NORWICH: Book Publisher, State Senator, Bank President.
Henry Bill, son of Gurdon and Lucy Yerrington Bill, was born in the north parish of Groton, now Ledyard, on the 18th day of May, 1824. Up to the age of fifteen he was oc- cupied by the ordinary life of a farmer's boy, at- tending the public school during the winter months. Then he was for a short time an apprentice in the printing office of the New London Gazette, but, not being satisfied with the profession, he abandoned it and engaged in school keeping in the neighbor- ing town of Preston. He then engaged in school HENRY BILL. teaching in Plainfield and Groton during the winter months and assisting his father on his farm in the summer, till he was twenty years of age. Then he entered the field as a book agent, and for three years traveled through the Western States in this business. In 1847, having acquired a practical knowledge of the book business, he returned to Nor- wich and established the subscription book publish- ing business, on his own account. For more than twenty-five years he followed this business with great success, employing hundreds of agents, in all parts of the country, distributing some of the most useful and popular books of the day. His business outgrowing his strength, he turned it into a joint stock company, put it in charge of younger men, and nominally retired from active life, to recuper- ate his failing health.
In 1853 he represented the Sth senatorial district in the state senate, as a free soil democrat, and was the youngest member of that body, but in 1856 he zealously espoused the free soil cause and cast his lot with the republican party, with which he has since been affiliated. In 1868 he was one of the presidential electors on the Gen. Grant ticket. With these exceptions, he has held no public office.
During the civil war he was one of the strong men upon whom Governor Buckingham relied at all times for advice and assistance, and after the war was deeply interested in the work of educa- ting the colored people of the South, and gave freely of his time and means in this cause. He has manifested his interest in his native town by pre- senting the homestead of his family to the Congre- gational society for a parsonage, and by endowing a free library in connection with the same, the good influence of which will endure forever.
Mr. Bill was married on the 16th of February. IS47, to Miss Julia O. Chapman of Groton, and has
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three living children, two daughters and a son. For more than thirty years he was a vice-president of the Chelsea Savings Bank, and for two years was its president, and only resigned that office on ac- count of declining health. From his youth up he has been a member of the Congregational church, and since his residence in Norwich has been a mem- ber of the Broadway church. A fact worthy of mention in connection with his business life, be- cause worthy of imitation, is this, that he has in- vested the proceeds of his enterprises almost wholly in the city of his residence, by laying out and build- ing up the most beautiful of its suburbs, Laurel Hill, and by holding and improving some of the most valuable of its business property. This has proved to him not only good citizenship but sound financial foresight.
Mr. Bill is one of the best products of our old Connecticut institutions, - self-made, self-reliant, strong to execute whatever he plans, a good citizen, a good neighbor and friend, and one who will leave a lasting mark for good upon the community where he has passed the active period of his life.
CHARLES A. MILLER, MERIDEN : Machinist.
Charles A. Miller, who occupies the position of master mechanic at the works of the Wilcox Silver Plate Company in Meriden, was born in Peter- borough, Hillsborough county, N. H., June 2, 1830, and was educated in the Peterborough acad- emy. He learned the trade of a machinist and remained in Peterborough until 1862, when he re- moved to Meriden and was employed there as a toolmaker and contractor in the works of Parker, Snow, Brooks & Co., in C. A. MILLER. the manufacture of Springfield rifles for the government, and in making the Scott & Triplet rifle for the state of Kentucky. At the close of the ' war he became master mechanic of J. Wilcox & Co.'s woolen mill and remained there for eight years. He was then employed for a short time as a toolmaker for the Parker shot gun. The present position he has held for a number of years. Mr. Miller was married June 7, 1854, to Miss Sarah M. Ames, daughter of Alvah and Betsey Ames, and has two sons and one daughter. He is a republican in politics and was a member of the Meriden city council in 1870, 1871, and 1875. He is a member of the Center Congregational church and belongs to Meriden Lodge, No. 77, F. and A. M., of Meriden, and to the Order of the Iron Hall.
J. DWIGHT CHAFFEE, MANSFIELD : President the Natchaug Silk Company.
J. D. Chaffee was born in Mansfield, Conn., August 9, 1846. After finishing his education at Fitch's boarding school at South Windham, he en- tered business with his father in manufacturing sewing silk and machine twist at Mansfield Center and Willimantic, Conn., under the firm name of O. S. Chaffee & Son, which business was es- tablished by the senior Chaffee in 1838. This con- nection was maintained with uninterrupted suc- cess for a long period of years. In the spring of J. D. CHAFFEE. 1884, Colonel Chaffee be- came interested in the manufacture of silk and mohair braids for coat bindings, the plant being at Willimantic. He has been a director of the Morrison Machine Company of Willimantic, which was incorporated July, 1882, and is doing a flourishing business in the manufacture of silk ma- chinery of all kinds. He was also one of the in- corporators of the Dime Savings Bank of Willi- mantic. He is now the president of the Natchaug Silk Company of Willimantic, whose New York office is at 546 Broadway. Colonel Chaffee is a breeder of thoroughbred Jersey cattle, and has upon his farm at Mansfield some of the best strains of Jersey blood to be found upon the American Jersey cattle club book.
As a politician he has never entered into any scheme or device to put himself forward, as his strict attention to business would not permit it. He represented his native town in the legislature in 1874, and acquitted himself with credit as clerk on the committee of cities and boroughs. He was called upon to represent the twenty-fourth dis- trict in the senate of 1885, and responded with a majority larger than was ever given a candidate, republican or otherwise, in his own town, and for the first time in the history of the party carried every town in the district. He served the first year upon the committee of fisheries, and had the satisfaction of seeing all the bills reported favora- bly by himself pass both houses. The last year in the senate he served upon the labor committee, which had before it every conceivable bill that might seem to benefit laborers. The press gave him great credit for his deliberations and as be- ing fair and conscientious in his reports.
As a military man, Colonel Chaffee has had no training whatever, but his selection by Governor Lounsbury to a position upon his staff as aid-
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
de-camp, with rank of colonel, in 1887, gave great satisfaction to all people with whom he is asso- ciated.
GEN. LUCIUS A. BARBOUR, HARTFORD: President Willimantic Linen Company.
General Barbour was born at Madison, Ind., January 26, 1846, and was educated at the Hart- ford High School, graduating from that institution in 1864. He was ap- pointed teller of the Char- ter Oak Bank, and held the position until 1870, when he resigned for the purpose of spending two years in European travel. He is a man of wide cul- ture, and his civic and business career has been exceptionally brilliant and successful. His mil- itary advancements, how- .ever, have the widest L. A. BARBOUR. notice in the state. Sep- tember 9, 1865, he enlisted as a private in the Hart- ford City Guard, then attached to the First regi- ment as Battery D. Rapid promotion awaited him, his instincts and tastes entitling him to the place of a military leadership from the outset. In 1871 he resigned from the company and was out of service until Feb. 1, 1875, when he was elected major of the First regiment. Dec. 29, 1876, he was elected lieutenant-colonel and was advanced to the com- mand of the regiment June 26, 187S. He was in command of the First at the Yorktown Centennial in ISSI, and won a national reputation by the splendid efficiency and discipline which his organ- ization displayed. The memorable visit to Charles- ton, S. C., was made in connection with the York- town anniversary, and resulted in the attainment of the highest military praise. The tribute paid to Colonel Barbour's command by the celebrated Lon- don war correspondent, Archibald Forbes, was deserved by the superb esprit de corps which pre- vailed in the First. Colonel Barbour resigned the command of the regiment Nov. 12, ISS4. He was one of the most popular officers connected with the National Guard, and his selection as adjutant-gen- eral met with universal satisfaction throughout the state. General Barbour was a member of the house of representatives in 1879, being the col- league of Hon. Henry C. Robinson. His legisla- tive career was in keeping with the course which he had followed in other callings of life, and added to his reputation and popularity. He was prominently identified with Battle Flag Day, being a member of the legislative committee which had the arrange- ments in charge. He is honored throughout the
state as a distinguished representative of the national guard.
General Barbour is at the head of the Willimantic Linen Company, of which he has been the presi- dent and treasurer since 1884, and is regarded as one of the ablest business managers in Hartford. He is also a director of the Charter Oak National Bank, and a member of the firm of H. C. Judd & Root. In politics he is a republican, and his relig- ious connections are with the First Congregational church of Hartford. General Barbour married Miss Harriet E. Barnes of Brooklyn, N. Y., a daughter of A. S. Barnes, the head of the well- known New York publishing house of A. S. Barnes & Co. They have two children.
GEORGE P. MCLEAN, SIMSBURY: Attorney-at. Law.
George P. McLean was born in Simsbury, Octo- ber 7, 1857. He was educated at the public schools of his native town and at the Hartford High School, from which latter institti- tion he graduated in 1877. After leaving school he became connected with the Hartford Evening Post, on the reportorial staff of which journal he did excellent service, but soon abandoned journal- ism for the law, for which he has special taste and ability. After a thorough course of legal study in the office of Hon. Henry C. Robinson, he was ad- G. P. MCLE.\N. mitted to the Hartford county bar in ISSI, and has remained in practice in the city of Hartford to the present time, retaining his residence in Simsbury. Mr. McLean represented his town with honor and distinction in the general assembly during the ses- sions of 1883 and 1884, his facility in debate and argumentative powers making him one of the most influential members of the republican side. As chairman of the State Prison committee in 1883 le reported the bill establishing the board of pardons and delivered a strong and successful speech in support of the measure. On the organization of the board in November of the same year, he was unani- mously elected clerk, and still retains the position. In ISS5 Governor Harrison appointed him a mem- ber of the commission on revising the public statutes, and, on its organization, he was elected secretary. In the fall of ISS5 he was elected state senator from the third district, and was naturally accorded in the upper house the same influential position which his ability and usefulness had secured
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for him in the lower branch of the legislature two years before. During the presidential canvass in 1884 he stumped the state in support of Blaine and Logan, and performed considerable similar service in the campaign of 1888. The versatility of his gifts as an orator has been often illustrated before critical audiences, and on more than one occasion he has received distinguished compliments from eminent sources, of which he would be justified in feeling proud.
HON. THOMAS S. MARLOR, BROOKLYN: Banker.
Hon. Thomas S. Marlor of Brooklyn is an Eng- lishman by birth, though an almost lifelong resi- dent of this country. He was born in England on the ioth of December, 1839, but at the early age of two years came to America, his parents set- tling in New York, in which city, as a boy, he received his education at the public schools. He early engaged in mercan- tile business in the me- tropolis, but his tastes in- clined him decidedly toward financial pursuits, T. S. MARLOR. and at length he became a banker, a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and a prominent and successful operator among the active financiers of that great money center. Although having scarcely reached his majority at the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, Mr. Marlor was in- tensely loyal to the government of his adoption; and, unable himself to take up arms in its defense, he not only contributed liberally and freely through the ordinary channels, but at his own personal ex- pense procured a recruit and sent him into the field, thus performing by proxy a duty which he felt to be upon him, but which was not proper or wise for him to undertake to perform in person. In 1869, having met with very gratifying success in business, and being desirous of disengaging himself to some extent from its burdens, Mr. Marlor purchased a tract of land in the village of Brooklyn, in this state, and erected upon it a handsome country residence, to which he retired with his family. He soon after- wards acquired considerable other real estate in the neighborhood of his home, and at once identified himself with the town of his adoption in the most thorough and liberal manner. He has in many ways manifested his public spirit and practical generosity, by the bestowment of various gifts and
privileges upon the town, village, and religious society with which he is connected. The handsome soldiers' monument which stands on a public square in the village was wholly the gift of Mr. Marlor, as was the site of the state monument to the memory of General Israel Putnam, which occupies a com- manding position in the vicinity of the memorial referred to. The Putnam equestrian statue was erected by the state, but the site and all improve- ments thereon, including the grading, the heavy granite coping, and the granite roadway, were pro- vided by Mr. Marlor at his own personal expense, to the acceptance of the state monument commis- sion. Probably no individual citizen of Brooklyn ever gave so liberally and voluntarily of his time and money for the benefit of his fellow-citizens and the improvement and beautifying of their village as the subject of this sketch has done since he first made that delightful town his permanent abode. Mr. Marlor has several times been called to accept positions of public service and trust, but he has been disinclined to office-holding and has refused more importunities of this kind than he has accepted. Although claimed by the democrats, he is an independent in the best political sense, and his elections to office have almost invariably been by such majorities as to show the voice of the peo- ple rather than of any particular party. Mr. Mar- lor has twice represented Brooklyn in the general assembly, and once the sixteenth senatorial district in the upper house. He has repeatedly declined re-nominations for both branches of the legislature, and in 1886 received the nomination of the demo- cratic congressional convention, but refused to ac- cept. In addition to his political services Mr. Mar- lor has rendered important aid in civil affairs of local concern. He is one of the corporators of the Prisoner's Friend Society, and also of the Brooklyn Savings Bank. He is an active member of the Episcopal Society of Brooklyn, and is always ready to perform his part in every movement which has in view the welfare and proper entertainment of the people and particularly the education and re- finement of the rising generation. He is not now in active business, though retaining his member- ship in the New York Stock Exchange. He there- fore has the leisure as well as the inclination and the means to gratify his laudable ambition to make the world better and happier while he is on the stage of action. Mr. Marlor married, early in life, Miss Mary F. Loper, and there have been three children, two of whom, both adult sons, are living and residing in their native town. The
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